Bandit or burglar trap



Sept. 13, 1938. c. L GOLDSMITH ET AL 2,130,301

BANDIT OR BURGLAR TRAP -Filed Sept. 6, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet l 4 Ber! di /eater! 670266? 't k, INVENTORS M41764 BY my;

ATTORNEY QP 1938. c, L. GOLDSMITH ET AL 2,130,301

BANDIT OR BURGLAR TRAP Filed Sept. 6, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 EVE o0 ooO 00oO0 000000000 00000 0 ATTORNEY p 1938. c. GOLDSMITH ET AL 2,130,301

BANDIT OR BURGLAR TRAP Filed Sept. 6, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Illm ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 13, 1938 PATENT OFFICE BANDIT on BURGLAR TRAP Chester L. Goldsmith and Bert lF. Wood, Winchester, N. H.

Application September 6, 1934, Serial No. 742,978

3 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for protecting banks against bandits and other malefactors and the object is to provide an apparatus which may be set in motion by any member of the banks force and will operate with certainty to efiectually bar the egress of evil-disposed persons who may have found their way into the bank An apparatus embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter fully described, the novel features being defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a bank building having our apparatus installed therein.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail view of a releasing treadle.

Figures 5 and 6 are detail elevations of the doors which form parts of the apparatus.

Figure '7 is a detail view of another releasing treadle.

The reference numeral l indicates a bank lobby and 2 designates a counter extending along one side of the lobby, there being a cellar or basement 3 beneath the lobby and a .doorway 4 affording entrance to the lobby. Tracks 5 are set inthe walls at the sides of the doorway and a vertically movable door 6 is slidably fitted to these .tracks, said door consisting of a frame I and rods or bars 8 secured rigidly in and extending between the top and bottom of the frame. The door is normally lowered in the cellar or basement with its top in a slot in thefioor of the doorway flush with the floor, and a latch 9 is provided near the floor of the cellar in position to engage over a projection It in the form of a trip, on the door at the bottom thereof to hold the door in its lowered position. The latch is pivoted on a bracket l l which may be secured upon some fixed support, as a wall or column in the cellar, and it will Joe-noted that the pivot is .near one end of the latch, the short end of the latch engaging over the projection ill and being beveled r tapered on its upper side to provide acam to permitthe projectio-n to ride easily thereover when the door is descending. The latch is yieldably held in its active position by a contractilespringlz suitably anchored atone end andhaving its opposite end connected With-the latch by a cable l3 which is secured upon theouter side of the latch or latch arm, as at l3. Pivoted between its ends upon the-bracket H is anuprightkeeper M, the lower end of which forms a hook engageable under the free end of the latch, as shown in Figure l, to maintain the latch in engagement with the projection. The upper end of the keeper is provided with an eye l6 extending through an arouate slot IT in the bracket II, as shown in Figure 3, and a cable l8 has one end attached to said eye and its opposite end attached to a contractile spring l9 anchored near the spring l2, whereby the keeper is yieldably held in the position shown in Figure l to engage the latch. Also attached to the eye H3 is a cable 20 which extends away from the cable l8 to pass around a pulley 2| on the bracket, then back across the bracket to and under a pulley 22 on the adjacent wall, and then up to and over a pulley 23 on the cellar ceiling. From the pulley 23, the cable is carried to a treadle 24 arranged back of the counter where it may be easily operated by a teller or other employee. The treadle is shown in detail in Figure 4 and comprises a stem slidably mounted in and extending through the floor of the banking room, a spring 25 between the floor and the head of the treadle yieldably holding the treadle raised and a suitable stop 26 on the treadle below the floor limiting the upward movement. A bell crank lever 21 is mounted adjacent the treadle and has one end attached to the cable 20, the opposite end of the lever being formed with a slot 28 receiving a pin or stud 29 on the treadle. It will now be understood that if the treadle be depressed, the bell crank lever will be rocked to exert a pull through the cable 20 to rock the keeper out of engagement with the latch whereupon the door will be free to rise.

A weighted means including a platform 29 carrying weights 30 is mounted for slidable movement on a pair of upright guide posts 3|, and a cable 32 connects the platform with the lower end of the door 6, the cable 32 being secured to the door through the medium of an eyed member 32' shown in Figure 5, and the intermediate portion of the cable is trained about suitable pulleys, with the result it will be seen that when the door is lowered, the weighted means will be suspended near the ceiling as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1. The platform has secured thereto and rising therefrom a pair of sleeves 3-0 that are threaded on the uprights to act as guiding means for the platform and the weights 30 have recessed sides to receive the sleeves therein, as shown in Figure 1. When the latch is released, the weighted means will drop, as shown in full lines in Figure l, and the door will be pulled up to close the doorway 4. The latch will yield to the upward movemer t of the door, thus increasing the tension of the spring l2 which will return the latch to normal position as soon as the projection I0 has cleared the latch. When the door descends, the latch will be rocked in the opposite direction, the spring acting as before. When the treadle is released, the spring l9 will act to return the keeper to its normal position, and it will be readily noted that the keeper will prevent movement of the latch to release the door but will not interfere with the movement of the latch to accommodate and engage the descending door.

Generally, there is a table or desk 33 in the bank lobby for the use of a watchman or other attendant. We provide a treadle34 under this table which is connected to one end of a-lever 35 suitably fulcrumed between its ends on the cellar ceiling and having its oppositeend attached to a branch cable 36 which is united with the cable 2!] so that depression of the treadle-34 will cause the same action as depression of the trea'dle24.

Formed on the side edge of the door, at its lower end, are downwardly pointing ratchet teeth 31, and a pawl 38 is arranged adjacent the door near the ceiling of the basement to engage the teeth and lock the door in its raised position. The pawl is pivoted at its lower end and inclines toward the door so that the teeth may ride under the pawl which will automatically drop under the ratchet teeth, being pressed thereto by a spring 39 arranged in any suitable convenient manner. Between the pawl and the door is a crank arm 40 on the inner end of a rock shaft 4| which may be mounted in any convenient manner upon a fixed support, as a structural element of the building, the side of the crank arm 46 bearing against the side of the pawl and a second crank arm 42 being provided on the outer end of the shaft. When force is applied to the crank 42 to rock the shaft, the crank 40 will be rocked against the pawl to swing the latter out of engagement with the door, thereby permitting the door to be pushed down to its lowered position. A cable 43 is attached to the crank 42 and extends therefrom to a crank 44 on the bolt or tumbler of a locking mechanism 45, the key to which is to be held by the police force or other authorities. The locking mechanism may be of any approved design and is illustrated in a conventional manner only. As shown in Figure 2, the locking mechanism is disposed in a compartment 46 at one side of the main doorway 4 and the entrance to this compartment is to be controlled by the police.

A horizontally movable door 41 is arranged to roll across the doorway 4 at the outer side of' the door 6, said door 41 consisting of bars 48, movable through guide openings provided therefor in the wall of the doorway 4, and a post 49 connecting the inner ends of the bars and equipped with a roller 50 at its lower end to facilitate its travel. A cable 5| is attached to the post 49 and extends therefrom longitudinally of the door to a pulley 52 on the wall of the compartment 46, then around said pulley and to a pulley 53 on the ceiling of the room or compartment which contains the mechanism connected with the door 41 for operating the same. The cable 5| is attached to a weighted means including a platform 52 carrying weights 54, similar to the Weights 30 and the platform is slidably mounted on upright guide posts 55, with sleeves 36 secured thereto and rising therefrom for guiding the platform on the uprights. Buffer springs 56 surround the posts and are arranged on the floors beneath both platforms to cushion the impact thereof. On the post 49 is a projection or trip 51 which, when the door is retracted, is engaged by a latch 58 so that the door will be held in the open retracted position, and it will be readily understood that if the latch be released, the means including the weights 54 will at once drop and project the door across the door opening.

It will be noted that the latch 58 is disposed nearly vertically and is pivoted near its lower end, its lower shorter arm being engaged with the catch 51 and a spring 59 acting to maintain the engagement between the latch and the catch. The latch is pivoted upon a bracket or panel 60 and the spring is disposed above the panel and connected with the latch by a cable 6| as at 6|. A keeper 62 is pivoted between its ends upon the panel 60 above the latch and has its end adjacent the latch formed with a hook or shoulder 63 to be engaged by the upper end of the latch which will be thereby held against rocking. The keeper is also provided with an eye 64 at its shouldered end to which a cable 65 is attached so that if a pull be given the cable, the keeper will be lifted out of engagement with the latch and the weight 54 will at once act, the upward movement of the keeper being limited by stop pins 66, 61 on the panel above the keeper. The cable 65 extends up from the keeper to and over a pulley 68 and to a trip lever 69 to which it is connected by a spring 10, as shown. The trip lever is pivoted between its ends within an opening H in the wall of the main doorway, and it will be readily noted that both arms of the lever are curved. The free end of the trip lever is normally in the path of the vertical door 6 so that as the door 6 nears the upper limit of its movement, its side edge will ride over the free end ofthe trip lever and rock the lever to pull upon the cable 65 thereby lifting the latch as described, whereupon the door 41 will be projected across the door opening.

To the end of the keeper 62 remote from the cable 65 is attached a cable 12 which'is held taut by a spring 13 above it, and attached to and extending downwardly from said end of the keeper are cables 74 which pass around suitable guide pulleys to treadles 15 located at convenient or strategic points in the banking room and corresponding in all essential respects to the previously described treadle 24. By depressing a treadle 15, the horizontal door may be operated to close the main doorway, even though the vertical door should fail, but generally the vertical door will operate and will automaticallyset the horizontal door in motion.

The door 41 has rearwardly projecting ratchet teeth 16 on its upper edge and a pawl 11 is pivotally mounted above the door to drop into engagement with one of the teeth when the door is closed to thereby lock the door closed. The bolt of the lock 45 is provided with a crank arm 18 at its inner end and a pin 19 on said crank arm extends under the pawl 11 so that when the lock is opened the pawl 11 will be rocked up out of engagement with the ratchet teeth of the horizontal door simultaneously with the rocking of the pawl 38 out of engagement with the vertical door. The doors may then be pushed back into the open positions.

From thev foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen'that we have provided an eflicient apparatus whereby the escape of bandits from a bank will be prevented. The operating mechanism is concealed and, therefore, cannot be put out of order by the outlaws, and will operate silently and automatically when a releasing treadle is depressed.

Having described our invention, what we claim is:

1. In protective apparatus, vertically and horizontally movable doors, means for holding the doors in open position, means tending constantly to close the doors, means to release the holding means and including automatic releasing means for the horizontally movable door actuated by the vertically movable door, means to automatically lock the doors in closed position, and means to release said locking means.

2. In a protective apparatus for a bank or the like, having an entrance, vertically and horizontally movable doors for closing said entrance, means for holding the doors in open position,

means tending constantly to close the doors, means to release the holding means, means to lock automatically the doors in closed position, and means operable from the exterior of the bank or the like to release said locking means.

3. In a protective apparatus for a bank or the like, having an entrance, vertically and horizontally movable doors for closing said entrance, means for holding the doors in open position, means tending constantly to close the doors, means to release the holding means, means to lock automatically the doors in closed position, and manually operable means to release said locking means.

BERT F. WOOD. CHESTER L. GOLDSMITH. 

